Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - United States of America (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the observations of the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) received with the Government’s report on 16 November 2023.

Articles 4(1), 5 and 7(1) of the Convention. Determination of types of hazardous work, monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Hazardous work in agriculture from 16 years of age. The Committee recalls, from its previous comments, that section 213 of the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) permits children aged 16 years and above to undertake, in the agricultural sector, occupations declared to be hazardous or detrimental to their health or well-being by the Secretary of Labour. It recalls that work in agriculture was found to be “particularly hazardous for the employment of children” by the Secretary of Labour.

The Committee takes note of the Government’s detailed report on the measures taken to protect children from the age of 16 from hazardous work in the agricultural sector and the changes implemented in law and practice with a view to giving full effect to the provisions of the Convention. The Government indicates that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Wage and Hours Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) continue to conduct outreach and educational campaigns to ensure that young workers are aware of their rights and have accurate safety information, particularly in agricultural work. The WHD also continues to conduct numerous investigations and, when violations occur, pursue effective penalties and resolutions to best protect young workers.

Regarding outreach and awareness-raising measures, the Government reports on recent actions, including: (1) updating and maintaining the OSHA, WHD, and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) websites to educate young workers, their parents, and employers on workplace safety and prohibited jobs; (2) using social media to promote safety awareness, especially in agriculture, through general safety videos; (3) conducting community outreach through OSHA, WHD and NIOSH; (4) producing educational materials, such as brochures, fact sheets, and toolkits, on various work hazards, including those relevant to agriculture; and (5) OSHA’s Alliance Program, through which it works with groups committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses to develop compliance assistance tools and resources, share information with workers and employers, and educate about rights and responsibilities (39 alliances – 8 National alliances and 31 Regional alliances – as of 30 June 2023). The Committee also notes the February 2023 initiatives by the DOL and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address child labour exploitation, particularly of migrant children, by vetting sponsors and investigating violations.

Regarding migrant children, the Committee notes the AFL-CIO’s observations on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new procedures in 2023, which extend temporary status protections and work authorization to immigrant workers who assist labour agency investigations. Labour agencies at the local, state, or federal level can issue Statements of Interest (SoIs) to DHS, highlighting the need to protect workers from immigration status-based retaliation by employers. The WHD has already issued numerous SoIs concerning child labour violations across multiple industries. Since most child labour violations in the United States affect migrant children, these protocols are crucial for addressing power imbalances that discourage reporting and allow abuses to continue and should help expose and address child labour exploitation by making it safer for immigrant workers to report violations.

Regarding enforcement, the Government indicates that WHD continues a multi-pronged approach to promote and achieve compliance with the FLSA. This includes strategic investigations, stakeholder engagement and education, and the use of communication tools and compliance assistance. Using a data-driven approach, WHD prioritizes enforcement in areas where violations are most likely. WHD investigators assess potential child labour violations in every FLSA investigation. The Government reports that WHD identified 851 child labour violation cases in 2020, 747 in 2022, and 835 in 2023. The number of minors found working in violation of the FLSA was 3,395 in 2020, 2,819 in 2021, and 3,876 in 2022.

The Government further indicates that, in 2022, WHD imposed a record US$4,386,205 in child labour civil money penalties, up from US$3,394,646 in 2021. The Committee notes that, according to the WHD website, this number increased to 8 million in 2023. In this regard, the Committee notes that the maximum child labour civil money penalty for violations of the FLSA resulting in the death or serious injury of a worker who is a minor has been increased to US$68,801 in January 2023 (from US$50,000 in 2015), pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act.

Finally, the Committee notes the Government’s information that the National Children’s Centre for Rural and Agricultural Safety and Health, funded by NIOSH, publishes an annual fact sheet on childhood occupational injuries. According to the 2022 Fact Sheet, agriculture remains the leading sector for occupational fatalities among youth aged 17 and younger. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also compiles data on both fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries by industry, occupation, and age. The Committee observes that, according to the BLS website as of August 28, 2023, there were 133 fatal work-related injuries to agricultural workers in 2021, 15 fewer than in 2020 and the lowest number since 2013 (40 per cent of these fatalities concerned agricultural workers over 55 years of age). Twenty-five of these fatalities involved motor vehicle incidents off public roadways. Additionally, the BLS data for 2022 shows an injury, illness, and fatality incidence rate of 4.1 per cent in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting, with specific rates of 4.1 per cent in crop production and 4.9 per cent in animal production and aquaculture. However, these statistics exclude farms with fewer than 11 employees.

The Committee takes due note of the various awareness-raising, educational, inspection and enforcement initiatives taken by the Government to protect the health and safety of young persons working in agriculture and to reduce the number of their work-related injuries on farms. It observes, however, that the statistical information shows that agriculture remains a dangerous sector, with a number of fatalities and injuries. It also observes that there is a lack of clear, up-to-date information on the number of fatalities and injuries as regards young workers, who work for family-owned businesses, or on farms with fewer than 11 employees.

While welcoming the significant measures taken by the Government, the Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that children under 18 years of age only be permitted to perform work in agriculture on the condition that their health and safety are protected and that they receive adequate specific instruction.

The Committee further requests the Government to provide statistical information on hazardous child labour in agriculture specifically, including:

• the number of FLSA child labour violations that concerned children under the age of 16 years working in hazardous jobs in the agricultural sector, including those working on family farms;
• the number of work-related injuries to young persons aged 16 to 18 working in agriculture;
• the number of migrant children who have been prevented from engaging in hazardous work in agriculture, or withdrawn, as a result of the various measures taken to protect them (e.g. vetting of sponsors and investigations of violations by the HHS and SOIs issued the WHD that concern child labour violations in the agricultural sector).

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.